You remember National Baseball Card Day? Right?
OK, OK, so it really turned out to be a big ol' fustercluck. But while I was unsuccessful in my quest to score a free pack of cards on that day, I was able to snatch a free pack via the MLB.com website.
And so today, stuffed into my PO Box and wrapped in a PWE, was the pack of cards I should have received six weeks ago.
The NBCD set consists of 16 cards -- eight each from Topps and Upper Deck -- and each pack contains six from each brand. The ten veteran players (five from each brand) come in all packs, and the six "Rookies" are seeded at the rate of two-per-pack -- one each from Topps and UD.
Topps
A-Rod
David Wright
Ryan Howard
David Ortiz
Vladimir Guerrero
Daric Barton (RC)
Upper Deck
Ken Griffey, Jr.
Derek Jeter
Albert Pujols
Ichiro
Prince Fielder
Chin-Lung Hu (RC)
I've heard of "going green," but this is a bit ridiculous. The design of the Topps cards are recycled from their flagship set, while UD recycled the layout from their 2006 NBCD effort.
I guess I shouldn't be complaining about free baseball cards though. There may not be such a thing as a free lunch, but it's good to know that every-other year, you can get free baseball cards.
It's too bad the whole promotion was poorly executed.
UD pack wins. While Topps has the better rookie (Daric Barton...about 2 years late arriving on the scene, though), UD has more stability with Griffey, Pujols, Jeter and Ichiro almost certain HOFers (just like Mattingly was after 7-8 years). Topps has shoo-in Rodriguez and Vlad is pretty well there, but everyone else has a lot of work to do. Plus, I like Pujols and Suzuki more than the guys in the Topps pack.
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